News - update on all things Alpkit

Climbing Unit SBS 2014 end

Friday night saw a good crowd make it down to The Climbing Unit in Derby for the final round of the summer bouldering series. There was once again a nice mix of problems, from the hard to the slightly more quirky, accomodating everyone attending. We were there watching, showing our bouldering range, a selection of t-shirts and enjoying more than a few too many chewy sweets. This has been the first bouldering series that The Climbing Unit has put on since opening and the whole series has gone down well, despite temperatures nudging 30º at times. Throughout the evening there was a raffle, giving every competitor the chance to win some goodies, in fact there was more emphasis on these than the series winner prizes, reflecting the community vibe as a whole, rather than just the best and making for an occasion that rewarded the whole competition.

A bustling crowd attends the final round.

Dan Bradley sums up after the series finished.

"Friday 15th saw the final of the first Climbing Unit summer bouldering series, and with double points up for grabs it ensured a good turnout of eager competitors. From the casual climber, to the seasoned pro, a host of people came down to enjoy the chilled and supportive atmosphere with their friends. Despite the ‘competition’ in the title, the summer series has very much been a fun event for people to push themselves, with the added motivation of beating your mate and have bragging rights until the next round. After perhaps slightly overcooking the difficulty of the climbs the first time around, the blocs got better and better creating some funky movements that had people fighting their way to the top even through the sweltering heat of rounds 2 and 3. As the rounds went by the competition hotted up for those vying for a podium with a fierce battle developing in the legends category.

With the whole series riding on the final round, we had the biggest turnout so far bringing the total amount of entrants to almost 200. Everyone was treated to a strip of raffle tickets on entry giving them a chance of winning something from the vast pool of prises courtesy of Alpkit and other awesome companies. Quickly it was underway and everyone was surging through the easier problems whilst more late comers arrived to enter the fray. As people started to tussle with the harder blocs the raffle began and the prises were given out by the bucket load. Finally everyone began to wind down and were rewarded with a refreshing pint. The evening was concluded with the winners being announced and the final set of prises given.

Even as our first comp series come to an end, we are already looking forward to the winter series. We’re not giving you long to wait with the first of six rounds beginning in October and continuing through to march with your four best results making up your final score. We look forward to seeing you all there soon.

For a full gallery of images from the evening, reults and some videos showing how to do the problems then head over to The Climbing Unit website.

Alpkit's Ben switches off the machines in the factory and joins in the fun.